The same Goldman Sachs report showed buybacks totaling just $155 billion in 2009, the nadir of the financial crisis. The year before the crisis, 2007, share buyback executions totaled $760 billion.

General Motors Co. last week said it plans to boost its current buyback program by 80% and extend it through 2017. Domino’s Pizza Inc.’s finance chief, Jeffrey Lawrence told investors at a presentation last week that it is “in the market executing an accelerated share repurchase” of $600 million, which will be completed by the end of the first quarter, according to a transcript.

Love this guy’s comment on WSJ:

jim paulsen wrote:

Hasn’t there been enough “financial engineering” to artificially inseminate earnings? Isn’t time for companies to actually grow the top line?